ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Celebrities devider TAPE, TVJ hearing on injunction case about 'Eat Bulaga' starts; Joey de Leon testifies 

TAPE, TVJ hearing on injunction case about 'Eat Bulaga' starts; Joey de Leon testifies 

Published Jul 27, 2023 06:24 am
The first hearing was held on July 27 on the application for the issuance of writ of injunction in a copyright infringement and unfair competition case filed by Tito and Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, known as TVJ, and Jeny Ferre against the Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE), the producer of the noontime show “Eat Bulaga,” and GMA Network.  The case was filed by TVJ and Ferre before the Marikina Regional Trial Court Branch 273 for “Copyright Infringement and Unfair Competition under R.A. No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, with Application for Issuance of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction.” "Eat Bulaga" and its new hosts (Photos from TAPE on Facebook) Tito, Vic and Joey (Photo from "Eat Bulaga 1979" account on Instagram)

The court is hearing first the part for the application for the issuance of a preliminary injunction before the main case.  Tito Sotto, De Leon and Ferre attended the hearing. De Leon was the first witness presented by the complainants. He took the witness stand and was subjected to direct, cross, redirect and recross examinations. TVJ left “Eat Bulaga” and TAPE, and transferred to TV5 to host the show “E.A.T” starting July 1. “Eat Bulaga” resumed programming on June 5 with new hosts.  TAPE and TVJ are in a legal dispute over who owns the “Eat Bulaga” trademark. TAPE earlier said it is the prior registrant of the “Eat Bulaga” trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL).  In filing the case, TVJ is seeking an injunction to stop TAPE from replaying “Eat Bulaga” episodes, segments and audio-visual recordings done before May 31 this year and using the title “Eat Bulaga” but TAPE opposed this.  For the application for writ of injunction, TVJ and Ferre want TAPE, Inc. to stop airing the show with the title ‘Eat Bulaga,’ its segments and the audio visual recordings of the episodes of ‘Eat Bulaga’ prior to May 31, 2023 but TAPE Inc. opposed this.   TAPE insisted that since it has the trademark registration of the name and logo of “Eat Bulaga,” it has the right to use the name and logo of “Eat Bulaga.” It has also trademark registrations of the segments.  It said TVJ and Ferre do not have the registration of the name and logo of “Eat Bulaga” with the Bureau of Trademark or copyright with the IPOPHL.  About the audiovisual recordings, TAPE said it owns the copyright because it spent for all the expenses of production to be able to make the episodes.  TVJ and Ferre also alleged unfair competition because of the continued usage of the name “Eat Bulaga,” allegedly giving the misleading impression to the public that Tito, Vic and Joey are still connected to TAPE and it is the same show with them as hosts.  But TAPE lawyer Maggie Abraham-Garduque said that "there is no unfair competition.” “TVJ, as early as May 31, 2023, publicly announced their severance with TAPE Inc so the public will not be misled that they are still connected with TAPE. Likewise, TVJ launched their own noontime show on TV5 with the title ‘E.A.T.’ so the public knows that the “Eat Bulaga’ being shown on GMA now is not the ‘Eat Bulaga’ with them,” said Abraham-Garduque. 

Related Tags

Eat Bulaga TAPE Inc TVJ Tito Vic and Joey
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.